When I was teaching TL517 Digital Technology in Higher Education to lecturers in Maynooth University I was tasked with elevating certain elements of the blended module. I noticed that a lot of reflections and understanding was in the form of forum posts and replies. Something that I have had great success with in teaching online with Michigan State University and with students in middle school is with creating infographics. Simple right? Basic right?
The overwhelmingly positive reactions that I got from the lecturers at Maynooth and the connections that they made with what they could do with infographics with their own students in their own subject area were what made me stop and think why infographics are a powerful tool to create artefacts of understanding.
Infographics:
- Allow you to simplify complex concepts in order to present information to a wider audience.
- Allow you to re-imagine information in different visual representations
- Allow you to creatively engage with materials to recognize and create patterns within information
- Allow you to interact with dimensional thinking to transform 3D concepts into 2D visualisations
I will add on to this initial list that creating infographics is….fun. Gasp! Have we time for fun in learning; gathering knowledge and gaining understanding? My initial thinking back in TL517 was to, indeed, make a reflective task somewhat fun but also my belief that to create something from your learning is to truly understanding what you’re learning.
Congratulations, you now understand bioorthogonal fluorescent probes for bioimaging….! Or you begin getting my point!